Ren Nakamura
|race = Shinigami |birthday = July 24th |age = 1000 |gender = Female |height = 5ft,9in |weight = 135 lbs |affiliation = 2nd Division, Gotei 13, Onmitsukido, Soul Society |position = Teacher at Shino Academy |previous position = Captain of the 2nd Division, Commander of the Onmitsukidō |previous partner = Vincent Canicus |base of operations = 2nd Division HQ, Seireitei, Soul Society |marital status = Unknown |relatives = Unknown |clan(s) = Nakamura Family |status = Active |shikai = Onagazame |bankai = Same kōgō Keigo |english voice = Laura Bailey |spanish voice = Megumi Ogata }} "The lily is hidden in the valley." -HF Ren Nakamura ("Water Lilly, Middle Village") Formerly the Captain of the Second Division before being replaced by Vincent Jirou Canicus after her presumed death. She is currently active in the Gotei 13 but as a side job teaches hunting and survival classes at Shino academy. Appearance Ren physical feature can be explained as an athletically built, olive-skinned woman with a big bust, brown long messy like hair and aqua-colored eyes. Her attire consists of a tattered jacket, with ripped-off sleeves, her top was a white-colored sport like bra, on her left arm a black skin-tight armband with a gauntlet made from hollow bones. She had a sword sash made from blue metallic material going from her right shoulder to the left side of her hip and back on the other side. Going down to her bottom she would wear tattered hakama pants with a white sash around her waist, she also wore boots that she carved herself from hollow bones. Personality Ren is a very intelligent woman you could even say she belonged in the R&D, but she ultimately chose to be in the Second Division. She analyzes every situation accordingly to the point where she can pick up what an enemy will be doing next. She is usually calm and collected but has shown to show a bit of fire, especially when she has a training partner. Despite being an assassin, and the former captain of the second division. Ren tends to show a caring nature for not only for her family but her students as well. History Origins Ren Nakamura was born from the Nakamura family, a family that isn't a noble family but rather a family known for creating the fighting style known as "Insert fighting style here" in some parts of the Ruckon District. A fighting style only used and passed down to members of the Nakamura family. Ren like others in her family was born with more spiritual prowess than the others souls so of course, she would naturally sign up for the Shino Academy. Shino Academy Years At first, she wasn't sure what squad she wanted to be a part of but that she wanted to be a Captain. Most people mocked her not for being a woman, but because to them, she was a nobody who had set her goals a little too high, especially for someone from a poor family that came from the Ruckon district. This angered her very much to the point she would yell back at the person and call them entitled. This led to her getting into trouble from time to time, for defending herself whether it was with her mouth or her fist from the other students who decided to start fights with her as she would say. Some of the students respected her fighting spirit and some hated the fact she wouldn't stay down. She began gaining popularity even in the academy because of her peculiar fighting style, which began gaining traction from the fights she was getting into. She not only had she become known for her bad-mouthing the other students she became known for her open palm technique that she claimed was only passed down to family members and that she never thought of it as something very special. Captain of Squad 2 A couple of years after the academy Ren had become exactly what she sought out a captain inside the second division. She achieved this, by challenging the captain for their position. Everyone laughed at the challenged but it was settled that they would fight, this is where Ren showed off what she learned throughout the six years plus she had at the Shino Academy, after many failures from passing. This is was the fight that made her family known through her skills. It seemed that she was losing the battle, and the captain was going to get the final blow until she began to fight using her families fighting style known as the "Insert name here". She would seem to be giving the captain who had never seen such a style before a hard time, but it wasn't enough to win until she combined her Kido skills with her Hakuda dealing a final non-lethal blow to her captain. But Ren knew better, it seemed like the captain from the second division, had let her win the battle. She smiled and told Ren to shush her lips, and then told her why she allowed such a thing to happen. Ren had learned that the captain had been watching her for quite some time and that she was looking for someone who would take her place as the next successor of the second division. She would then, let Ren know that she knew about her special technique so if she would have used it, that the captain would have been in trouble for sure, that is why she gave up on the fight and allowed her to win. Years after becoming captain Ren had met a young man named Vincent Canicus who had made it into the squad as the new third seat of the division. She had learned that this young man had defeated many of the prisoners in the maggots nest without the use of his zanpakutou. Quickly this made her fond of the man, even to the point of becoming his training partner. This continued for years before becoming romantically involved, they would do so only when people weren't around and out of duty as they liked to keep their personal life private but it would become something a bit obvious at times. Found Alive Ren was formerly known as the captain of the second division, but after secret missing, she was left for dead in the sand of Hueco Mundo where she had been for nearly a decade or so. She was found after a mission-led a soul reaper known as Vincent Canicus to Hueco Mundo after many many years. The mysterious person who ended up fighting against him was Ren who had to abandon her many ways to survive the harsh conditions of Hueco Mundo. This is where she learned many of her new fighting abilities and styles even her specialty on hunting hollows, having to do so for food and the such. Current Power and Abilities While formerly being a captain of the second division, Ren Nakamura's abilities have changed, because she was focused more on survival, and hunting hollows for food, thus her style became more berserk like. Hakuda Master: Since a child, Ren's family has been passing down years of training on special fighting techniques. This plus her shinigami training in hakuda has made Ren an exceptional hand to hand combatant, only using her hakuda when being disarmed or unarmed on depending on the situation. Her attacks and techniques consist of open palm attacks and techniques when doing hand to hand combat. : Kyūshojutsu (lit. "Touch Of Death"): An open palm fighting style passed down from Nakamura to Nakamura, this technique does not only require Haduka training but training in the manipulation of spiritual energy as well. This shows her fighting brilliance as she can use both Kido and Hakuda to make her technique more efficient. The name comes from the fact that the user could simply kill someone with these simple moves as they are directed into pressure points. *'Twin Lotus Palm': The user opens their palms and spins into a 360-degree rotation before thrusting their opened palms towards the opponent's torso. *'Koken', Machine Gun Palm: A technique where the user leans their hand down and smacks the enemies chin with the back of their wrist known as "koken" and swiftly striking them with a couple of double-handed open palms on their torso and face areas. *'Air Palm': A technique where the user can thrust an open palm towards the enemies direction sending a wave of air, and hit and leave an indent on any area it was aimed at. This move is used to kill any weak enemy below lieutenant rank. *'Tesshō' (鉄掌, "Iron Palm"): An open palm hakuda technique able to destroy a hollow's mask and face with a single strike. : Reitenka ("Ignition Of The Soul") : Is a technique also taught through the Nakamura line, the technique is a secret art that hasn't been revealed to anyone outside of the Nakamura family. This technique allows the user to expel spiritual energy from their bodies in a golden yellow like flame color. Other physical changes are the hair color of the user becomes a blonde like color temporarily; The technique grants the user, speed and power similar to the Shunko technique. The difference is that this power derives from the users own Soul & Reitsu, this means that without the proper training they could extinguish their soul and die as it requires a high level of concentration and to be skilled at manipulating Reitsu. Expert Swordsman: While Ren’s fighting is more focused on hand to hand, she tends to use her zanjutsu skills more often. This is because her palm techniques inherently must use family secrets techniques and she prefers usually using them as a last resort. Her blade skills are indeed exceptional just like other captains and while she can take on a couple of foes, this is not her exact strong suit. Her skills in zanjutsu are good enough as an assassin should be able to silently take down the enemy's whether with it sealed or using her Shikai. Shunpo Master: As the former leader of the Onmitsukidō, she is also required to be highly proficient in Shunpo. Ren can not only use shunpo at fast speeds and great distances. She can also use Shunpo related techniques such as Utsusemi. She can shunpo silently, around areas to avoid detection around trapped areas. She has also shown proficiency in using shunpo while in close quarters combat, this could be seen back in their youth when she was training with Vincent Jirou Canicus. *'Utsusemi' (空蝉, Cast-Off Cicada Shell; Viz "Cicada Shell"): Technique which allows a user to avoid an attack by moving at high speeds that they leave an afterimage that seems to have taken damage. Kido Expert: Like other captains, Ren has a basic knowledge of Kido, which she uses mostly for survival or mix with her Hakuda. Though being a captain class soul reaper, she does not use incantations to use her Kido, but instead just calls them by number and name making them weaker than intended. : Hollow Mimicry: While her time in Hueco Mundo Ren studied how hollows tend to fight or hunt for other hollows, to the point where she mimics hollows-like abilities. She found this to be useful as a survival and hunting tactic, as well as a fighting practice *'Sōru Furasshu' ("Soul Flash"): By mimicking a hollows cero, Ren was able to create a shinigami variant of the move. known as the "Soul Flash". This is done by firing concentrated spirit energy, out of one's hands, or mouth. Expert Hunter: Being stuck in Hueco Mundo for many years had forced Ren to become an expert huntress. She could rail traps to capture and hunt hollows as a source of food for survival and even armor for protection. Advance Intellect: Ren's intelligence does not arrive from just being an assassin but due to having an above-average intellect. This intellect could have made her part of Research and Development but instead, she chose to join the second division. Ren intellect allows her to asses a situation and puts two and two together in a faster way than the average person can. This can be seen when she was able to create a shinigami variant of a hollows cero, or when teaching her class about how to properly hunt, track and even feed on hollows for survival or even reconnaissance. She admits she could have been a great asset to R&D but she loved the second division more. Enhanced Speed & Reflexes: Being formerly the captain of the second division, and having a naturally slim body. Ren has trained her body to be able to dodge and evade physical attacks like that of a human and even hollow, being able to quickly counter when the change presents itself. Zanpakutou Onagazame ("Thresher Shark"): In its sealed form Onagazame takes the form of a silver bladed tantō (短刀, "short sword") with a purple wrapped over a black grip with a black oval tsuba/guard. The pommel is black with a similar colored sheathe wrapped close to the top with a piece of purple fabric. Inner World: NOT YET REVEALED Shikai: (??, "Initial Release") with the command "Submerge" Onagazame is engulfed in water as it grows and forms into a normal-sized katana, keep the same designs of it's sealed form. Water would then engulf the blade moving along with whatever motion the wielder moves her Zanpakutou. For example, if she swings her blade towards an opponent the water on the blade would follow leaving a trail of water in the direction the sword was swung, but this is not always the case as the blade doesn't need to be surrounded by water even during Shikai. Shikai Special Ability: Shisui poses the ability to create and manipulate water by controlling the moisture in the air to create water allowing her to use a fighting style called Hydrokinetic Combat with her Zanpakutou. *'Tama Ame' ("Bullet Rain"): Ren can use her Zanpakutou to take the moisture in the air to create and fire a barrage of concentrated bullets of water. This water hitting against the enemies' body would have enough force to break bones or destroy the organs in the enemies body which ultimately can lead to death. *'Mizukiri' ("Water Cutters"): with a swing of her Zanpakutou, Ren can create blades that resemble shark fins which emit enormous amounts of pressure making them strong enough to cut through almost anything in their path. The amount of pressure depends on how much damage she would like to do on the opponent. *'Taki' ("Water Wall"): The technique where Ren concentrates water on the blade of her zanpakutou before slamming its blade into the ground creating a giant wall of water, to defend against attacks. Bankai ('' lit. "Full Release''"): Same kōgō Keigo ("Imperial Shark Empress's Body Guard"): Her Bankai is very unique, unlike other water zanpakutou, Onagazame does not have a water-based Bankai. With the command "Bankai" the sword falls towards the ground and splatters into the becoming a puddle of water before it ends up forming into a humanoid shape made from the water before gaining detail, features, and colors. The shaped figure would become a male like humanoid with shark-like features, this was said to be the physical manifestation of her zanpakutou. Bankai Special Ability: In this form, the zanpakutou becomes manifested through its water-based Bankai. The zanpakutou and it's user are psychically connected and is attached to their User's body. In that case, any damage the Zanpakutou Spirit sustains results in an equivalent injury on the User's body and vice-versa. The user can manifest their Bankai spirit at will, and in other cases out of its own will to protect its user. Not only can the manifested spirit be used to fight, and defend but the manifested spirit can also manipulate water and summon water being that it is a water-based zanpakutou. * Augmented Strength: * Water Manipulation: Being that it is a water-type zanpakutou Onagazame retains its elemental properties, that can be used for battle. This can be seen when Onagazame performs hand signs that would allow both the manifested spirit and even the user to use a water-based attack through a form of ninjutsu. Bankai Weaknesses: * The reason Ren manifests and unmanifest her Bankai spirit is not only because any damaged on the spirit is reflected on her. But she also does it to conserve her spirit energy as her Bankai tends to drain her and as such has a time limit. Quotes Trivia